The Art Of The Walk-Up Song

Dugan Arnett: Nick Faunce's introduction to matters involving the walk-up song — that is, the song played throughout a stadium as a particular player walks to the plate — came four years ago, during his red-shirt freshman season with the Kansas University baseball team.

Figuring he wouldn't see much game action in his first year on the team's active roster, Faunce, now a senior, didn't bother to select an entrance song, leaving the team's support staff to use a track it already had on file. As a result, each time he emerged from the dugout that season — which turned out to be several times — he did so to Lil' John's "Yeah!" a boisterous and overtly sensual rap song that, as one teammate was happy to point out, "doesn't really fit an outfielder from Oregon."

Says Faunce, who has since changed songs but still endures regular chiding from teammates for his rookie blunder, "It was entirely embarrassing every time I came to the plate that year."